Meet The World’s First Hijabi Ballerina Stephanie Kurlow [Pictures]

She is so graceful in whatever she does.

There used to be a time when people, for better or for worse, made assumptions about other people based on what they choose to wear. But thanks to social media, those stereotypes are being challenged. If you told me there was a hijabi ballerina out there, I couldn’t have believed you. But guess what, happy to be proven wrong!

One Twitter user shared how one really exists, and now people are curious about who this hijabi ballerina is.  Her name is Stephanie Kurlow and she asserts being the ‘first hijabi ballerina in the world’.

This woman is turning tables on stereotypes one pirouette at a time. This Russian-Australian ballerina is only a teenager. According to Pointe magazine, she was 17 last year.

Stephanie Kurlow
World’s first ‘hijabi ballerina’ Stephanie Kurlow

Stephanie Kurlow

Stephanie Kurlow

Stephanie Kurlow
Australian ballerina changing stereotypes

While Stephanie knew she wanted to be a dancer since the age of 2, she did not find her religious identity until 2010 when she converted to Islam.

That’s when her dancing career was affected because she struggled to find a school that catered to Muslim women.


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During that rough patch when she wasn’t dancing and almost gave up ballet, she was inspired to push forward by African-American ballerina Misty Copeland, and the first hijabi Emirati weightlifter, Amna Al Haddad.

That’s when Stephanie Kurlow set up a crowdfunding page to help fund her private tuition. She went from struggling to afford the tuition to scoring a scholarship from Swedish sports brand Björn Borg.

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The Australian resident even served as a muse for designer Tarese Klemens in 2018. Soon enough she grabbed the attention of international brands, such as Converse and Gaynor Minden.

An Inspiration

This is a woman who did not let her religious identity affect her dreams and her drive. In an interview with Emirates Woman she said;

“Some girls feel more confident now to wear hijab in their everyday life, saying they aren’t so afraid to wear it in public because of my story … They don’t need to compromise their beliefs and their values just because of the current climate in the world.”

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Many people do not realize but much like racial identity, religious identity is met with prejudice. As a hijabi Muslim woman, that prejudice becomes more obvious.

Of course, this ballerina has also faced trolls along the way. Despite their best efforts, nothing stopped this ballerina from taking pride in her identity and profession.

“Some people are telling me that I don’t belong in the ballet world, that I can not express art while I am covered,”


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People even pointed out that dancers are more interested in getting you to see what they can do not what they look like. The Islamic concept of hijab is to hide a woman’s beauty out of modesty and humility.

“The talent and technique can’t be measured by the length of the skirt or hijab.”

In one of her previous interviews, Stephanie Kurlow mentioned that she wants hijabi professionals to just be the norm, not headline news.

“I really look forward to a time where wearing a hijab isn’t front page news, because having different beliefs or clothes shouldn’t be a deciding factor as to whether you pursue your dreams or not.”

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